Reading in This Font Could Improve Your Memory

Here’s a science-backed—and totally simple—way to remember more of what you read.

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Can This Font Improve Memory?

With so much information available in books and online, it’s easy to learn a few new facts each day. But how much of that do you actually remember? If your answer is “not much,” listen up. Scientists at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, recently designed a new typeface—and it was invented specifically with us read-it-and-forget-it folks in mind. Very appropriately, it’s called Sans Forgetica. (This is one of the best things you can do to ward off memory loss.)

The idea behind Sans Forgetica is simple: The typeface is a tiny bit difficult to read, which means your brain has to work twice as hard to understand what it says. Because of that deeper focus, you’ll have stronger recall of whatever it is you’re reading. That’s not just a hypothesis, either. The typeface was created by a team of researchers and academics from RMIT University’s School of Design and its Behavioural Business Lab. The group worked with renowned typographer Stephen Banham to test and refine their product.

Photo: sansforgetica.rmit

“The font uses principles of cognitive psychology to create an effect known as desirable difficulty,” the researchers note, “in which minor obstructions to learning processes cause the brain to engage in deeper cognitive processing. The result is improved memory retention.” (Don’t miss these 10 health benefits of reading.)

To get the typeface now (and hopefully never forget another fun internet fact again), go to sansforgetica.rmit to download it for free. You can also add the typeface as a Chrome browser extension, which means you can do all of your online reading in this magical font.